Yesterday's Daughter by Sallie Lundy-Frommerfyi: if you didn't already know, the author commented on lots of your commentsWinner: Barbara

more winners for this event to be revealed later this week

~*~

* to see the original giveaway offer, click on the prize title links

* I will email winners for mailing addresses this week.Winners, feel free to contact me with your info if you don't get my emailor if you are just too darn excited and want to let me know -- like NOW ;-D

Jonah has seven days to find his best friend’s soul, or lose his own, dragging a zombie across the country with a stripper who has an agenda of her own, while being pursued for a crime he didn’t commit......and dealing with Satan.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sallie Lundy-Frommer, “I’m thrilled to have this chance to interview you, Sapphira. Everyone seems to think I’m an expert on all things Sapphira, but that isn’t the case. Your fans are anxious to know more about your relationship with Malachi. ”

Sapphira laughs softly, “I suppose they are. I’ll share as much as I can, but some things are for Malachi’s eyes and ears only. And, thanks for having me Sallie, but I have to admit, I’m a little nervous. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Not to worry, we’re your admirers and fans, so you’re in safe hands.”

“Thank you.”

“Alrighty then, here we go. Malachi’s and your story has generated more notoriety than any love story in some time. Every time one of your fans writes or calls about you and Malachi, they gush like crazy. So tell me, you two were apart for a long time before finding each other, what really happened? It there more you can tell than what we read, Sapphira?”

“This is hard, really hard to talk about. I wanted to put all this behind me.”

“We...we were kept apart and it took a long time for Malachi to find me. He...”

“How long did take and what exactly kept you apart, come on...the devil is in the details...”

Sapphira takes a deep sigh before continuing softly, “Death kept us apart or tried to. That is, most people believed I was dead. But, Malachi didn’t, thank God.”

“Oh, that’s so tragic...”

“Yes, yes it is.”

“Okay, neither the fans nor I want to upset you. I see tears in your eyes. Let’s move onto happier times. How did you meet Malachi?”

“Oh, it’s kind of funny and scary. He just showed up like the Holy Ghost. One second I was alone and the next, he was just there. Scared the heck out me, at first I thought he was a home invader. It took him a while to convince me that he wouldn’t hurt me. Then he explained a lot of stuff to me, including what I am, a vampire. It was scary then, but when I think about it now, it’s one of the best days of my life.”

“And you believed him, that you’re a vampire?”

“There’s a lot of back story that you don’t have time for; but yes, after a while, I believed him. It’s hard to explain, but his words triggered something in me. Let’s just say, it was the beginning of my awakening.”

“And, now you’re married. How’s married life?”

“Amazing, sublime, and eventful. The ceremony was like something out of a fantasy. I still can’t believe Malachi is my life mate. He’s been so patient and loving and let’s not forget he is the most beautiful vampire in the world, both inside and out. I guess my prejudice is showing here.”

“Quickly, Sapphira, you said it was eventful. Anything you can share?”

“Ahhhh...too much to be quick. I’ll just say, if it weren’t for Malachi, I wouldn’t have survived our adventures.”

“Well, that’s it, we’re out of time. Sapphira, thanks for stopping by and say hello to Malachi.”

Grace Stone, who later learns her true identity is Sapphira, is a loner who survives abuse in the foster care system after being abandoned as a child. A brilliant student, she escapes from her brutal foster parents as a teenager and creates a life for herself. But, her life is little more than existence; plagued with questions about what she really is, a family that she has never known and the never-ending need to keep her differences hidden.

She is alone and lonely, believing it will always remain so until Malachi appears in her life. Malachi, a Guardian of the vampire communities, has searched for his life mate, Sapphira, for decades. He refuses to cease searching for Sapphira even though she is believed dead by all. Conflict arises over the decades between Malachi and his family because of his refusals to accept another mate. But his very soul drives him on to continue his search, knowing that he could not exist if Sapphira were not in the world, somewhere.

"No. Not tonight, I think." Jasper's small shoulders slumped. "But if you think you're up to keeping another secret, I might be willing to tell you a tale."

"There's a difference?" asked Lily.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes. You see, a story can be made up as easily as you please, or not. But a tale, now that's a moon of a different color. A tale is an account of things in their due order, often divulged secretly, or as gossip. Would you like to hear one?"

Once upon a time, Lily and Jasper Winter had an uncle named Ebb. He liked to tell tales of a place called the Moon Realm, where nine moons swirled around one another, each inhabited by strange and wondrous beings: magical lunamancers; undersea merfolk; wise birds; winged dragons; and Lily’s favorite, the heroic, leonine Rinn. Uncle Ebb had quite the imagination.

Now, nine years after the tales began, he’s missing. Soon, so is Lily, transported to the Moon Realm by a mysterious coin.

But this Moon Realm is different, no more than a dystopian shadow of the storied worlds in Ebb's bedtime tales. Here, a villain named Wrengfoul, along with his evil minions, is attacking the other moons, stripping away what little magic and happiness remain. Had her uncle just been spinning tales of how he wanted things to be? Where did Ebb’s fantasy end and the real Moon Realm begin?

Separated from her brother, dodging fresh dangers on every new moon, Lily desperately sifts through Uncle Ebb’s shattered bedtime tales for shards of truth. Will she piece together enough clues to find her way home, or will she remain trapped in a faery tale gone mad?

Featuring twenty-two stunning full-color illustrations by Carolyn Arcabascio. Volume One of the young adult fantasy adventure series The Moon Realm.

In a kingdom that doesn’t need saving, a young man ignorant of social norms is the unlikeliest of heroes. And despite his extreme dislike of confrontation, Hatta knows his destiny is to mend a rift that doesn’t exist.

On the other end of the spectrum is Chism, a young Elite soldier who thrives on conflict. How will this rash, obsessive soldier aid the child-like Hatta in his journey?

Throw in the Cheshire Cat, Queen of Hearts and other familiar characters as they emerge to fill their eminent roles in the tangled ascent into madness of literature’s most lovable lunatic.

Series:JabberwockyHatter

My two-bits:In-a-word(s): loyaltyLoved this story that tells the tale of Hatter (before Alice comes into the picture). I must say I became smitten with Chism who has a stint as the Red Knight.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Imagine that you put on your “reading glasses.” The glasses are dark, fitted with lasers and high-quality stereo earbuds, so that as you put them on, your entire field of vision is captured. A laser inside the glasses flashes a novel title on the interior surface of your eye.

Of course, the book you see is my book (why not, it's my fantasy). The letters start small, off in the distance and they quickly draw closer to you, but they don't stop, they wash right over you and just when it seems they're all around you, they explode in a burst of light, “Nightingale, by David Farland.” You can hardly imagine what life was like before 3D. As soon as you read the last word, a laser with a computer link that tracks your eye movement cues the background music, and images begin to flash in your eye—a holographic video-clip of the character of Bron, as an infant, being abandoned outside the door of a cheap hotel in the Utah desert. The camera pans up to the face of his mother, Sommer, bitter and broken, with tears in her eyes. We flash to the prologue, where Sommer runs through a forest at night, her breathing deep, while dogs snarl and bark as they give pursuit. Fireflies rise up around her.

Words to the novel appear on screen, as background music continues, and you begin to read. As Sommer twists her foot and falls, the lasers pace your reading and insert a sound-effect—the thud of a body falling, the hiss of breath knocked from Sommer’s throat. The dogs bay more excitedly. A man’s heavy footsteps can be heard tromping through the brush behind the reader, and a startled mewling cry escapes Sommer’s throat. . . .

Welcome to the future of reading, where text, images, sounds and music forge a collage. That’s the vision I have that led me to become a co-founder of East India Press.

The technology to do this already exists. The use of heads-up displays in fighter jets was pioneered in the 1960s, and that technology has now gone public. Though readers now are using the iPad2 and the Kindle Fire, I’m looking forward to the devices we’ll have five years from now, or ten years.

How can reading technology be better than with current books?

We don’t want to replace reading. We don’t want to make movies. Reading often engages the audience’s imagination in ways that movies fail to. We want to keep it that way. We want the reader to be a partner with us in bringing a tale to life.

At the same time, we hope to ‘enhance,’ the story, help readers become more fully involved with it, yet keep budgets reasonable. With film clips, animations, illustrations, background music, and sound effects, we can create something that fuses a lot of storytelling tools.

Creating e-books has become cheap and easy. This year, it is estimated that three million people will be putting their own e-books up for sale. That’s a staggering number. If you spend twelve hours a day just examining those titles, and spend only ten seconds studying each e-book put up this year, you wouldn’t be able to glance at even 1/100th of all the books that will be published—much less read one!

Readers are being deluged, often with books that aren’t any good. Most of those books, unfortunately, wouldn’t have made it past an editor. The author just wasn’t ready. Sure, there will be a few diamonds among all of that coal, but no editor will have time to sort through it.

I've had my share of sorting through manuscripts. For nearly a decade I was the first judge for one of the world’s largest writing contests. A funny story, once an editor of a major publisher asked me to help pick a book to give the “big publicity push to” for the next year. I read through thirty books and selected a book that the marketers thought was “too-long” for its intended audience. I pointed out that the book was also written several grade levels too high for its intended audience.

But it was a great book, so I urged them to push it despite the book’s apparent problems. It was called Harry Potter.

Even though authors can publish their own works, we’re going to need editors in the future who understand how to green-light a novel, who can recognize what will please an audience. But once a work is selected, the editor will take the role of a producer—assembling a creative team of composers, musicians, illustrators, animators, directors, sound-effects engineers, and so on.”

Distributing enhanced books won’t be expensive. After all, it will be done electronically. There are no copies to print, ship, or store. But creating them will be expensive and time-consuming.

Still, it will be a lot less expensive than making a movie. To create a really great movie with a lot of special effects can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and it will only give the viewer an hour or two of entertainment. But by meshing technologies, we can create a similar experience with novels, spending perhaps only a hundred thousand or two—and it will give a reading experience that might last for twenty or thirty hours or more! Novels have a unique ability to let us achieve deep penetration into the minds and emotions of a character, much more so than with a film. I’m excited about the possibilities.

In fact, I am so excited about the possibilities that I went indie with this next novel. I didn't have to by any means. I'm an award-winning New York Times bestseller. Instead, I decided to start my own publishing company for enhanced novels. I see potential. Nightingale is the first young adult novel I’ve written, outside of a little work with Star Wars and the Mummy. I knew it could be a hit, but I wanted to do something . . . unique with it. I've trained dozens of other #1 international bestsellers, people like Brandon Sanderson and Stephenie Meyer, and I've learned to spot “good,” whether it's someone else's work or my own. Nightingale has it.

Now that it’s done, this is a first step toward creating a more-engaging form of novel, the kind that kids who are reluctant readers might devour. I’m looking forward to see what we can do in ten or twenty years. But Nightingale is a step toward that future.

Nightingale is the story of a young man, abandoned at birth, rejected from foster home after foster home. People see that he’s brilliant and talented, but also “strange.” He’s the ultimate loner until he meets Olivia, a marvelously gifted teacher, who recognizes that Bron is something special, something that her people call a “Nightingale,” a creature not quite human.

I was excited to see how it would be received. I was even more excited when the first reviewer said, “I devoured the novel. It was absolutely incredible! . . . I struggled to explain just how much I enjoyed it in my review. . . . After reading Nightingale, I don't think I will even be able to go back to reading regular e-books again. Like it says in my review, reading the enhanced Nightingale felt like an ‘experience.’ It didn't feel quite like a book or a movie. It initiated all of my senses. . . . enhanced ebooks are actually a real deal.” That's what we were hoping people would see in it. The future of books is beginning now.

Best of all, East India Press has created a new web simulation technology that mimics how the book appears on the iPad, so you can see and hear it for yourself for free at www.nightingalenovel.com.

Nightingale launches a marvelous contemporary fantasy for young adults, a grand adventure overflowing with wonders. Alternately laugh-out-loud funny and terrifying, there’s a sweetness and passion to this novel that keeps readers up long into the night.

Currently, Nightingale is available as an “enhanced novel,” with its own sound track, illustrations, animations, and author interview; as a lovingly crafted hardcover; as an audiobook; e-book; and has its own soundtrack.

Monday, January 16, 2012

All the while, the Fae continue to their eternal dancing every night...

Dance with the boogie get down'Cause boogie nights are alwaysThe best in townGot to keep on dancingKeep on dancingGot to keep on dancingKeep on dancing

-Boogie Nights by Heatwave

Where did Alice go?

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

Finding Aliceby Andrea DiGiglioRelease date: February 2012

Cursed with an intense version of empathy Alice runs from a wasted life to start a new one somewhere no one will know her; Hell, Michigan. Alice works at a hole-in-the-wall bar in the middle of nowhere mostly keeping to herself to avoid the overwhelming emotions of those around her. Alice allows her best friend to convince her into taking a few college classes without realizing it would drastically change her life forever. From her first day of class she was hooked on him; his scent, his eyes, the way he talked to her inside her head.

Throughout her struggles she learns about true love, true pain and the truth of her own heritage. Alice must quickly find out who she is because after all everyone else is out to find her. With Angels and Bounty Hunter’s in constant pursuit she finds protection within a group of Fallen Angels. These Fallen Angels vow to do anything to protect her; for it is their belief she will save their kind and all of mankind.

WIN a copy of this book!

for 2 winners

1 - Print version for US only.

1 - Ebook available for all.

Offer ends: January 29, 2012--> extended to Jan 31

TO DO:

VISIT Andrea's site and tell me something interesting you found there.

Our Alice's trip down the rabbit hole takes her out of Boogie Wonderland, but lands her in a place - not quite home...

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~by Anna Patricio~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

The thirteen-year-old girl trailed alongside the other priestesses in the inner sanctum of the Temple of Atum-Re. They had just finished one of the daily rituals, and were now making their way through the sacred near-darkness.

Torches cast a flickering red-orange light on stiff, two-dimensional portraits of the sun god in his many forms: the hawk Re-Horakhty, the scarab Khepri, and the man Atum who sailed upon his glorious Boat Of A Million Years each day. Around the portraits were marble altars bearing offerings: flowers, plates of food, and bowls of bittersweet incense.

The priestesses then passed through the forest of lotus columns, which separated the god's sacred home from the world of rekhit - the common people. A sudden flash of sunlight nearly blinded them, their greeting back into the ordinary world. They then descended the temple's wide marble steps and dispersed throughout the courtyard.

Asenath waved a farewell to her parents, the high priestly couple of Heliopolis, before heading towards her litter, which waited to take her home. She was looking forward to a quiet afternoon in the garden, with just her pets and scrolls of poetry.

A little while later, she had just finished her lunch of beer, onions and bread and was about to take up some scrolls to read, when she heard a rustling outside the garden pavilion. She ignored it, thinking it was merely a bird or a gardener. But then, the rustling grew persistent, followed by a human's voice, "Oh!"

Asenath's head jerked up. She then rose and headed towards the edge of the pavilion.

Sprawled out on the grass below her was a girl with a face as pale as those of the Libyans, or even from those who dwelt in lands across the Great Green Sea. Her dress was the strangest Asenath had ever seen - it was not a straight sheath dress if the Egyptians, neither was it one of those colourful woolen cloaks that the people from Babylon or other such lands donned. She could not figure out what origin it was from.

The pale girl looked up and shrieked, startling Asenath as well. "Oh, I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry...." the girl stuttered.

Asenath relaxed, seeing that as strange as the girl looked, she was harmless. "It's all right," she said.

She descended the pavilion's steps and approached the girl, who was struggling to her feet. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," the girl said. She leapt up and brushed some grass from her skirt, which ballooned as if propelled by some great wind - though, to Asenath's fascination, it never deflated. She stood to her full length, almost the same height as Asenath.

"Who are you? What is your name?" the girl asked.

"I am Lady Asenath," Asenath replied. "And what is your name? Where did you come from and how did you get here?"

"I am Alice. I fell through a rabbit hole and... er, never mind. It's a long story."

"Rabbit hole?" Asenath echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Er, well it was a magical rabbit hole."

"Ah." Asenath nodded, understanding somewhat, seeing as the priests of Ancient Egypt practised magic arts. This girl must have been sent by the rabbit god Unas.

Alice gasped. "Is this Egypt?"

"Why, yes," Asenath said, a bit baffled. How could the girl not understand where she was...

Alice let out a squeal of delight. "Ohhh, I have always wanted to go to Egypt! Are the pyramids close by?"

"Sort of," Asenath said, now amused by Alice's enthusiasm. "As a matter of fact, we have a view of them from the roofdeck. Would you like to have a look?"

"Sure!"

Later, the two girls stood on the roofdeck, looking towards the great monuments rising in the distance. In the heat, the pyramids and sphinx seemed to dance slightly.

Alice shaded her eyes. "They're glorious," she said.

She then turned to Asenath. "How wonderful it must be to wake up every morning to the pyramids."

"It is, quite," Asenath said. "I haven't always lived here though. I mean, I have lived in Egypt all my life, but not always in Heliopolis."

"Oh?" Alice said.

"Yes. I am originally from a fishing village by the Nile. I was orphaned when a group of invaders raided the village and murdered my parents."

"I'm sorry." Alice lowered her eyes in sympathy.

"My best friend and I were then brought here to Heliopolis. I was adopted by the high priest and his wife, and my best friend went to study magic arts in Thebes. Now, I serve as a priestess of the sun god."

"The sun god, I see...."

Speaking of which, Asenath knew she had better offer the utmost hospitality to a god's messenger. "Would you care for some sherbet and dates?" she asked her strange guest.

"Why certainly!" Alice replied. "That would be lovely."

As the girls reentered the garden, Alice said, "I can't tell you how thrilled I am. Egypt is such an ancient, fascinating place and..."Suddenly, the ground opened up and Alice fell in. Asenath reached out to help her, but the hole immediately closed up.

Asenath blinked at the strangeness of this all. Then she closed her eyes and murmured, "Hail to you, great god Unas, for sending me your messenger."

As she returned to the pavilion, memories of her happy childhood by the Nile returned to her......

AN EXCERPT FROM THE NOVEL, ASENATH

CHAPTER ONE

Egypt 1554 B.C.

The Nile had just flooded, leaving the ground moist, rich and black. The children of our riverside village, I among them, frolicked about in the cool, gooey earth. In the distance, the ancient river circled the land, glittering with a thousand tiny dancing lights from the sun-god's Boat of a Million Years. A breeze blew, rustling the branches of the palm trees that surrounded our home.

"Kiya!"

No sooner had I looked than a mud ball pelted me hard across the stomach.

"I'll get you for that, Menah." I bent down to gather mud in my hands when another ball landed on my back. He was a quick one, my best friend.

I had just formed a mud ball and was about to raise my arm when Menah suddenly charged forward and pounced on me.

"Now you'll get the tickle torture," he said in a mock evil voice.

"No, Menah. Please, no." But I was overcome by uncontrollable laughter.

"Menah! Kiya!" voices called out, interrupting our playful wrestling.

Our mothers approached.

"Come out now," my mother called. "It is time to prepare for the Feast of Hapi."

Covered in mud from head to toe, Menah and I scrambled toward them.

Mama shook her head, smiling. "You're such a mess."

She led me back to our hut.

"What is going to happen tonight, Mama?" I asked. "I mean, after we pray to Hapi? Will there be games?"

Mama's blue eyes twinkled against her brown skin. "I see no reason why there shouldn't be."

"And lots of food?"

"All the food you could ever want."

"May I wear my lotus necklace today?"

Years ago, when I was very young, Mama had given me a beautiful carved lapis lazuli lotus pendant strung on a simple piece of coarse rope. She told me it had been in her family for many generations and that her grandmother had received it from Hapi himself.

She ruffled my hair. "Of course. Today is, after all, a special day."

As we entered our mud hut, which had been my home since birth, I saw my father mending one of his fisherman's nets. When he saw me, he pretended to cower in fear.

"A mud monster has entered our house."

I laughed. "It's just me, Papa."

He leaned forward and squinted, as if trying to get a good look, though the gesture was comically exaggerated. "Is it? Let me see. Ah yes, it's my little Kiya."

He leapt to his feet, picked me up and swung me around, ignoring the mud that soiled his hands. I squealed with delight."Nakhti," Mama said. "I have to get her ready."

"Yes." Papa set me down. He gave me a gentle slap across the back, motioning for me to return to Mama.

"I get to wear the lotus today, Papa."

He smiled. "I am sure you will look very pretty."

Later that afternoon, four priests from a nearby town passed by our village. They shouldered on poles our patron god's idol, which nestled upon a bed of water lilies. A ray of sunlight bounced off the golden image and it flashed with brilliance. Behind the god was a small train of dancing priestesses. They rattled sistrums and twirled around, their white dresses billowing out like clouds.

My fellow villagers and I were assembled outside our village, awaiting the god's arrival. When he appeared, we fell to our knees and touched our foreheads to the sandy ground.

"Glorious Hapi," my father intoned. "We thank you for once again allowing your water to flow and give life. We thank you for nourishing our land and our people. We pray your sacred pitchers never cease to flow. We thank you, great god of the Nile."

My heart swelled with pride. Papa was the most renowned fisherman in our village. Though he was quite an old man - many years older than my mother - he possessed skills and strength that surpassed even those of the younger generations. Everyone thus hailed him as the favoured of the river god.

"Praise be to you, Hapi," I echoed along with the rest of my fellow villagers.

As the idol trailed away, we rose to our feet and gathered up the amulets and flowers, which we would be tossing into the Nile as offerings. It was sunset now and sheer red-orange skies cast a fiery glow upon the river's rippling surface. From a distance, we heard the warbling of river fowl and the screeching of monkeys.

We approached the riverbank. It was still soft and muddy from the inundation. We tossed our offerings in. All the while, Papa chanted hymns of praise. Afterward, we returned to the village for what we children had been anticipating the most - the games.

A kind, respectable widow named Mekten, whom everyone called "Village Mother", held a game called the "statue dance." She played a reed flute while we danced and would stop at random moments without warning. We had to freeze as soon as the music stopped. Those who were still dancing were out of the game.

My friends and I loved it so much that Mekten held several rounds of it. Unfortunately, I always lost, as I always got so caught up in the liveliness of the game. However, she awarded me a small spinning top as a prize for being the best dancer.

I danced so much that I could barely keep my eyes open as we later sat down to the feast. Papa picked me up and carried me back to our hut. I was too tired to protest. As soon as he lay me down, I fell into a deep sleep.

That night, I dreamt I was on a great winged barque sailing along the Nile. It was a bright day, with the white-golden Egyptian sun shining gloriously and flocks of ibises and herons gleaming against the clear blue sky. A group of friendly monkeys, like those who usually wandered near my family's hut, kept me company on the deck, entertaining me with their hilarious antics.

Suddenly, the skies darkened and the water began to thrash against the barque. The monkeys leapt up and down, screeching frantically. I grabbed onto the rail.

Thunder rumbled. Fierce white waves threatened to haul us overboard. The barque tipped to a dangerous level and I began to scream.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of publisher ~--

WIN a copy of this book!

Open to US and Canada only.

Offer ends: January 29, 2012

TO DO:TELL me, if you were in the world described above, would you be want to be a HUMAN or ANDROID?

“The Rones lie about their true intent. They enter the city of Huron at the peril of us all. Save me steward.” – The Voice of Huron Nick hears a woman’s cry for help. He soon discovers that every city has a voice, and this one calls him steward.

Nick and company are transported from sometime in the near future to a mythic past when Earth is tethered to the fantastic world of Mon, or as we have come to call her, the Moon. He arrives at the city of Huron, where he encounters fire-breathing winged lions, volcano-born nymphs, automaton-legged mermaids, and so much magic you can smell it.

As steward of Huron, Nick Lyons suddenly finds himself responsible over the cradle of all magical civilization. There’s only one problem. Nick Lyons. When Nick gets involved, things tend to go awry—burning down the neighbor’s greenhouse kind of awry. And so no one believes him when he claims that the Rones brought an evil to Huron, which now lurks under the cobblestone streets.

To make matters worse, while aboard the Mottle Craw his best friend, Xanthus is infected by a mysterious creature. Pretty soon, Nick realizes that Xanthus' mysterious creature and the evil lurking through the streets of Huron are one and the same. Never one for responsibility, Nick is tasked with finding a cure for an infected Xanthus while protecting the city of Huron from the mysterious creature most foul.WIN a copy of this book!

* I will email winners for mailing addresses this week.Winners, feel free to contact me with your info if you don't get my emailor if you are just too darn excited and want to let me know -- like NOW ;-D

Friday, January 13, 2012

She sits among the flowers as faeries continue to swirl and twirl with the rhythms and beats of fantastical fae music in the air.

Our Alice then spies a shiny coin...

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~by Richard Due~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

Gibbering Gnome Press Presents a Tale of Epic Fantasy

For Lily and Jasper Winter, the Moon Realm began with a single secret bedtime tale. As the children grew older, Uncle Ebb enthralled them with thrilling tales of the Dragondain riding horse-sized, catlike Rinn; mysterious tales of peerin-wielding lunamancers manipulating the magic that lies just beneath the surface of reality; exciting tales of flying dragons, swimming merfolk, stomping giants, and troublesome faeries. But as the magic of their childhood faded, so too did the tales. Eventually, they were just . . . good stories.

Or were they?

Now, nine years after it all began, Uncle Ebb is missing.

Lily and Jasper search for clues, but their uncle's mansion is full of distractions. A Tesla generator thrums in the basement. Prismatic electrimals flit around walls resembling underwater reefs. Then a most unexpected friend comes to their aid, leading them to a hidden room where they find a mysterious coin—the moon coin. Before the night is out, Lily is transported to the real Moon Realm. But the moons are in trouble. The Rinn of Barreth are under siege, and the lunamancers of Dain are beset by the very dragons they once loved. Most horrifying of all, the moon Darwyth has fallen to a villain named Wrengfoul, whose creeping evil now threatens to overshadow all the Realm.

Are Lily and Jasper too late to save the Moon Realm, or will they have enough time to write an ending of their own?

Featuring twenty-two stunning full-color illustrations by Carolyn Arcabascio. Volume One of the young adult fantasy adventure series The Moon Realm.

From Sketch to Chapter Art, an Illustrator at Work

For me, getting to work with Carolyn Arcabascio was a dream come true. On The Moon Coin, we worked from a master list of scene options, with Carolyn picking out scenes she liked and making sketches. For the prologue, Carolyn drafted three options. All three were great, but two in particular were spectacular. I first went with option 3 (one of my scene suggestions). I think we spent more time on this sketch and subsequent color drawing than on any other piece. But it never seemed right. At the eleventh hour, I asked Carolyn how hard she’d hit me if I suggested scrapping the thing and instead going with the pinky promise scene you see below (one of her scene suggestions). Carolyn responded: "There would be no hitting involved!" and told me it wouldn't be a problem. You sure can't ask for better than that.

From the Prologue: Bedtime Tales.

Richard: Did you make all these sketches in the same location, Carolyn?

Carolyn: Yes, I do all of my work at a drafting table that's situated in a little nook of my apartment in Acton, Massachusetts. There's a bookshelf to my right and a wall of "inspiration" to my left, where I hang prints of other artists' and illustrators' work. On either side of my drafting table are drawers of supplies, and stacks of sketchbooks and old paintings. The drafting table faces a window overlooking a quiet street and the woods beyond it.

From Chapter Two: A Coin of the Realm.

Richard: Do you use models when you're sketching?

Carolyn: I use a combination of models and photo references. If I need to work out the nuances of a character's posture and really understand the perspective of it, I'll ask whatever friend or family member is handy to pose for a sketch. Often, I'll get into the position myself or mimic the facial expression I want to portray in order to get the feel of it. And sometimes, if there's a character being portrayed multiple times across scenes, I'll make a rough model of their head out of clay so I'll have it to refer to.

From Chapter Four: To Barreth.

Richard: When drawing fantastical creatures, do you use bits and pieces of real animals for inspiration, or have you actually seen a wirtle and you're just not telling us? ;)

Carolyn: No wirtles native to Massachusetts, fortunately! When figuring out the look of fantastical creatures, I use photo references of different animals to understand the way the anatomy might work, and then combine features as I see fit and as the story calls for. To understand the wirtle's legs and paws, for example, I referred to a series of photographs of show dogs leaping over hurdles. The severely arched, scruffy back was influenced by photos of hyenas on the prowl. The bone-structure of the face ended up being something of a cross between a cow and a warthog, and I wanted the snout to be bare—kind of gross and raw-looking. Add it all up and, voila! We have a wirtle.

The Moon Coin, by Richard Due, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iBookstore for $0.99.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

PeekAbook:

Whaddya think?

I'm a sucker for time travel and heroes - so definitely adding this to my TBR pile ;-D

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

On a cold and frosty morning, our Alice walks aimlessly about the room as her mother and sister sit next to the fireplace with noses buried in books. Alice sighs and looks out the window. She is delighted when she spies a whirling and swirling delight.

Alice manages to escape the confines of the house for a brief moment. She bundles up with proper hat, coat, scarf, muffler and boots.

Out of time and out of her element, teenager Zoe Calder finds herself in ancient Greece, battling against the power of the Olympians and the vengeance of a scorned goddess—all for the strange and mysterious boy she has come to love.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Years after her Wonderland experiences, Alice, contracts a horrid flu. In her fever dreams she encounters an old friend from Wonderland. But as is always the case, it goes nothing as she expects.

The turtle-shell patterned hat, magenta coat and yellow-striped trousers are unmistakable, but for some reason the man wearing them is utterly out of place in the sitting room of Alice’s house, but she can’t figure out why. No matter.

“Why it’s my dear friend, the Hatter!” she says.

The man who turns to look at her is indeed the colorful oddball she’d met in Wonderland, but he is years younger than she remembers. Decades possibly.

No signs of recognition register on his face, but he smiles nonetheless. “What a brilliant idea to be dear friends before meeting. We can dispense with hours or months of tedious acquaintanceship and jump straight to dear friend.” His smile takes on a hesitant air and he says, “Methinks people would usually do it the other way round. No?”

“But of course we’ve met,” objects Alice. “I met you when I was a young girl. You’re the ma…the Hatter. But you are much younger than I remember.”

Relief shows in his smile and the Hatter says, “Well that would explain it. If you are much older now, then I would have to be younger, now wouldn’t I?”

“But that doesn’t explain anything.”

“It’s simply a matter of math, my dear child. If one of us is older, than the other must be younger. There must be balance, after all.”

The logic made very little sense to Alice, but she never was one to argue. “If you don’t recall meeting me then perhaps I should introduce myself.”

With an apologetic smile, the Hatter replied, “I believe I should be the one to do the introduction.”

“But I already know you.”

“How do I put this? You are older than you were when we met, but I am younger than I will be when we do meet.”

Finally he made sense. “Yes,” said Alice.

“So I have already met a younger version of you, a person who has happened. But the person you claim to have met who is me is a person who does not exist and never has though he may someday.”

“I suppose that’s logical.”

“So I already know a younger you, but you know someone who is not and has not been me.”

“You can’t very well know somebody before you meet them,” objected Alice.

“On the contrary, what better time is there to know somebody?”

While Alice tired to make sense of the idea, the Hatter went on. “Speaking of meetings, shall I tell you of the time I met the Cheshire Cat?”

“The Cheshire Cat! Why he’s a character even more curious than you are, or will be if I’m being accurate.”

“Now I think you’re getting it, my girl! Do let’s sit and I’ll tell you of when I met my friend Cheshire.

EXCERPT from Hatter:

To his delight, a fork appeared in the road a couple hundred paces past the first trees. Hatta hurried to the split in the road, but didn’t see anything resembling a cat so he said, “Good day?”

“Good day, yourself,” said a tenor voice low in the trees. A large-headed cat, with an even larger smile, emerged from behind a tree. It jumped into the fork of a pale tree and lounged along a branch. The gray fur with black stripes had blended into the mat of dead leaves, but stood out vividly against the bark.

Sound logic. But the non-cat’s name still puzzled Hatta. “Why are you called ‘Cheshire Cat’, if you are a Cheshire Cat?”

“Why not?”

“They don’t call me ‘Man’, or ‘Human’.”

“But if you were the only one, I wager they would.”

Cheshire’s argument made sense. Hatta was shocked how easy it was to talk to the creature, even about things on which, at first, they didn’t see eye to eye.

“You are entirely delightful,” Hatta said. “How is it that you talk?”

Cheshire tilted his head and smiled wistfully. He trilled, “How is it that other animals don’t?”

“Oh, but they do! Some of them helped me find food on my way to Palassiren, and a rath spoke loudly at a wedding I went to.”

The smiling creature nodded. “All animals talk in their way. It’s people that don’t listen.”

“I’m going to save the kingdom some day,” blurted Hatta. He felt so comfortable with Cheshire that he didn’t mind telling him.

“Of course you are,” Cheshire said confidently.

“I am? Sometimes people act oddly when I tell them.”

“As you can see, I am not people. You are more important than even you know, Hatta.”

He had never received such optimistic praise, and was reluctant to trust Cheshire. Believing too much in his destiny could very well get him in trouble. “How do you know it? Because sometimes I wonder if mad thoughts make me think it.”

Cheshire considered for a moment then answered, “How do you know when an animal is comical, or hungry, or bored when most people have no idea?”

“Sometimes I can just tell things.”

“Ah,” said Cheshire, nonchalantly satisfying an itch on his neck against the bark of the tree. “So can I.”

Note from Daniel: I've recently launched a podcast for aspiring aritists in all disciplines called CREATE OR DIE. We put up weekly episodes, and it's available on iTunes and at www.createordie.podbean.com.

* I will email winners for mailing addresses this week.Winners, feel free to contact me with your info if you don't get my emailor if you are just too darn excited and want to let me know -- like NOW ;-D

In Greek mythology, a centaur (from Ancient Greek: Κένταυροι – Kéntauroi) or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse. In early Attic and Boeotian vase-paintings, they are depicted with the hindquarters of a horse attached to them; in later renderings centaurs are given the torso of a human joined at the waist to the horse's withers, where the horse's neck would be. -per wikipedia

~*~

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies, and the Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries. -per wikipedia

~*~

Pegasus (Greek Πήγασος/Pegasos, Latin Pegasus) is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing when his mother was decapitated by Perseus. -per wikipedia

~*~

--~ Book Giveaway ~--

with centaurs: Centauriad #1: Daughter of the Centaurs by Kate Klimo Malora knows what she was born to be: a horse wrangler and a hunter, just like her father. But when her people are massacred by batlike monsters called Leatherwings, Malora will need her horse skills just to survive. The last living human, Malora roams the wilderness at the head of a band of magnificent horses, relying only on her own wits, strength, and courage. When she is captured by a group of centaurs and taken to their city, Malora must decide whether the comforts of her new home and family are worth the parts of herself she must sacrifice to keep them.

Kate Klimo has masterfully created a new world, which at first seems to be an ancient one or perhaps another world altogether, but is in fact set on earth sometime far in the future.

with dragons: Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey Wilde Island is not at peace. The kingdom mourns the dead Pendragon king and awaits the return of his heir; the uneasy pact between dragons, fairies, and humans is strained; and the regent is funding a bloodthirsty witch hunt, hoping to rid the island of half-fey maidens.

Tess, daughter of a blacksmith, has visions of the future, but she still doesn't expect to be accused of witchcraft, forced to flee with her two best friends, or offered shelter by the handsome and enigmatic Garth Huntsman, a warden for Dragonswood. But Garth is the younger prince in disguise and Tess soon learns that her true father was fey, making them the center of an exciting, romantic adventure, and an ancient prophecy that will bring about peace between all three races - dragon, human, and fairy

with pegasus: Pegasus by Robin McKinley Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pagasi, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own Pegasus, on her twelfth birthday. The two species coexist peacefully, despite the language barriers separating them. Humans and pegasi both rely on specially-trained Speaker magicians as the only means of real communication.

But its different for Sylvi and Ebon. They can understand each other. They quickly grow close-so close that their bond becomes a threat to the status quo-and possibly to the future safety of their two nations.

New York Times bestselling Robin McKinley weaves an unforgettable tale of unbreakable friendship, mythical creatures and courtly drama destined to become a classic.

WIN a copy of one of these books!

Winner gets to pick!

Open to all.

Offer ends: January 29, 2012--> extended to Jan 31

TO DO: (2 parts)

1. IF you could travel with one of these creatures (centaur, dragon or pegasus) who would you pick and where would you go?